The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson has announced initial new funding of more than £1 billion to deliver thousands more low cost homes as he warned that London needed at least 42,000 homes a year to meet the demands of the city's ever increasing population.

During a keynote speech to launch his new Housing Strategy 'Homes For London' for public consultation, the Mayor said that housing supply has become the biggest challenge facing London's economic development.

The initial new funding package of over £1 billion will support the delivery of 45,000 more low cost homes for hard working Londoners. Further funding is to be unveiled shortly.

Since the Mayor assumed control of housing budgets the number of affordable housing starts has doubled. He is on target to build 100,000 low cost homes by 2016, help 50,000 Londoners buy their home (with low deposits) through his First Steps programme and has released over 300 acres of land which has given a £3bn economic boost to London.

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On a visit to Greenwich Square, the Mayor put forward a range of pioneering measures to boost housing supply, stimulate building and produce more low cost homes. The Greenwich Square development, on land owned by the Greater London Authority, will provide 645 new homes for Londoners including apartments, maisonettes and townhouses. Around half of these will be low cost homes available to rent or to buy on a shared ownership basis alongside a public square with cafes and restaurants, a leisure centre, library and an NHS health centre.

The Mayor toured the Greenwich site and joined the construction team as they mixed cement for building new homes, before addressing an audience of key housing stakeholders and chairing a question and answer session.　

Mr Johnson said: "For over thirty years, regardless of boom and bust, governments of every hue have failed to build enough homes. With London's unprecedented population growth, housing supply and affordability is now our biggest challenge and we need to double the number of homes being built. 　　

"This requires a radical shift in how we prioritise housing to ensure we do not compromise our economic growth, and a collective effort from City Hall, government, and industry to treat housing as an essential infrastructure.

"We are overseeing the largest release of public land for a generation to ensure we maximize housing supply. We'll have delivered 100,000 new low cost homes but we won’t stop there.

"The new funding and plans today will ensure thousands more hard working Londoners are helped with homes over the next decade, together with a raft of new and innovative ideas to unlock finance and the huge potential to develop new homes and communities across the capital "

(CD)